Mourning 'extremely excited' about chance to work with Oden

MIAMI — Alonzo Mourning spent Thursday morning at the NBA's Rookie Transition Program in New Jersey talking to prospects about "the journey that they're about to take."

But it is a journey that is about to unfold in South Florida that has the former Miami Heat center and current Heat executive intrigued.

With the Heat a day earlier announcing the signing of free-agent center Greg Oden to a two-year contract, Mourning found himself captivated by the possibilities of the 25-year-old injury-plagued center.

"Extremely excited, extremely excited," he said by phone, "because I understand the potential that he has."

Mourning confirmed that he was among those in the organization who helped recruit Oden in recent months.

"I had some words with him, yes," he said. "We were able to spend some time together."

In many ways, Oden is the closest thing the Heat have had to a muscled, intimidating interior presence since Mourning stepped away from the game in 2008, later moving into his present role as the team's vice president of player programs.

Asked if he plans to work directly with Oden, Mourning said, "I think we all, as an organization, are looking forward to working with him, developing him, so that he can be a part of this organization for years to come."

Oden, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, has been limited to 82 career regular-season games by a series of injuries, including three microfracture surgeries on his knees. It was a knee injury that ultimately brought Mourning's career to a conclusion.

The difference is Mourning's defining knee injury came when he was 37, 16 seasons into his career. For Mourning, there was no comeback. Oden, by contrast, has not appeared in an NBA game since Dec. 5, 2009.

"I know that if healthy, the impact that he can have on this franchise," Mourning said. "Just him being 25 years old, I feel that the longevity of the possibility of him playing, that longevity will continue to stimulate a winning opportunity with the organization."

While the Heat have won the past two NBA championships with former power forward Chris Bosh starting at center, bolstered last season by the addition of lanky shot-blocker Chris "Birdman" Andersen, Mourning sees Oden presenting another dimension in the middle, at 7 feet, 275 pounds.

"The game is played from the inside out," he said. "The biggest acquisition this summer was Dwight Howard, and when you have a player that caliber that can play the game inside and draw attention to that painted area, that makes all of his teammates better. Roy Hibbert has that ability. Dwight Howard. There's very few guys that have that ability in the league."

Work with Oden will come later, as the former Ohio State standout gets closer to a return to contact sessions. For now, Mourning's work is preparing players who might not get the second chance afforded Oden.

That had him Thursday in front of members of the 2013 draft class, including Heat second-round acquisition James Ennis, who is expected to spend the coming season overseas, with the Heat retaining the rights to the swingman out of Long Beach State.

"The particular focus was helping them understand the game is temporary," Mourning said of his Thursday seminar. "And with the game being temporary, they have to start right now preparing for after the game.

"There's so many players who come into this league where they feel they going to play five, 10, maybe 15 years, and only play two years. The average [NBA] life expectancy per player is 4.7 years."